Sitting Down On the Job

When you’re stressed out while traveling, the last thing you want to see is an employee who is lying down on thejob. But sitting down on the job? That became a blessing to an entire flight of passengers – especially a woman witha serious case of aerophobia, an extreme fear of flying… something 25 million Americans struggle to overcome.

She was recently on a Delta flight from Charlotte to New York, and expressed to the person seated behind her, Molly Simonson Lee, that she was nervous about the trip. Even before takeoff, she became visibly shaken by each sound theplane made (and commercial planes make a lot of strange noises). What happened next inspired Molly to post the experience on Facebook…

Read

What Really Matters

One morning when Brooks was a young boy, I was backing out of the garage and became distracted. I felt a dull thud as my car hit the basketball goal. I groaned and asked Brooks to hop out and check if there was any damage. I watched him walk to the back of the car and then – thoroughly examine the basketball goal for any marks. He got back in and said, “Whew, it’s fine.” I sat there for a second and then asked him if he checked the car. He seemed surprised but immediately got out and gave the bumper a cursory look before letting me know that it too, was ok.

I’ve often thought of the incredulity I felt over Brooks not realizing that I was concerned about my car. But I’m sure that Brooks was just as surprised that I wasn’t more worried about the basketball goal…

Read

Team Love

Living in today’s culture, it is obvious life is engulfed in competition. People compete vigorously in sports, arts, entertainment, fashion, politics, and the list goes on. Sadly, it pits human against human. For winners, self-esteem is enhanced, ego is pumped, popularity is affirmed and in some events, finances are substantially rewarded. On the other hand, losers of competitions feel insignificant and egos and self-assurance are deflated. Even as individuals, we find competition within ourselves. We struggle with bettering ourselves physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. We compete with breaking old habits, beginning new and healthy lifestyles, and even strengthening our spiritual devotion to God and others.

While competition in any form can sometimes be seen as ugly and grueling, there is also a positive spin…

Read

We Can Impact All of Creation

As he neared his destination, on his way to make a very important speech in Scotland, an Englishman’s mode of transportation got stuck in the mud. Across the field, a Scottish farm boy noticed the problem, recognized that he needed help, and approached the Englishman.

The boy told him that he would hook his team of horses to the horses pulling the Englishman’s carriage and pull it free. True to his word, the boy did exactly what he said and it worked. Just before the Englishman left, he asked the young man if he could help him in any way and asked, “Is there anything that you plan to do in the future?” The young boy replied, “Oh yes, I plan to go to school and be a doctor.” The curiosity, as well as the generosity of the Englishman, was sparked, and he replied, “Then, son, I will help you.” And he did this by paying for the boy’s education.

Many years later, another great Englishman of Parliament, Winston Churchill, was in Morocco for a wartime speech when he was stricken with pneumonia and about to die. However, a miracle drug called “penicillin” saved Churchill’s life. The drug in its earliest form had been discovered many years before by Sir Alexander Fleming, who was the Scottish farm boy that helped a man out of a mud pit, who in turn helped the boy become a doctor. The man who paid for his education was…

Read

We can’t change much if we don’t quit much

Every year we experience different holidays and seasons, and there are also seasons in the Christian calendar we recognize like Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Each season and each holiday reminds us of something different and teaches us along the way. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.

This season of Lent is the 40 days before Easter when we prepare and get ready for Easter. Lent is a more solemn season, a time of reflecting and fasting before the great celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Maybe you have fasted or given something up during the season of Lent. These sacrifices help us to focus on our relationship with God and to reflect upon the sacrifice that Christ made for us. There is a time for everything: and a time to give up something can be an important part of our faith journey.

Bob Goff is an inspirational speaker and author. In his book and study, Love Does, he talks about his practice of quitting something every Thursday…

Read

John 11:32-44

Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Laz′arus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Read

Excerpt From John Wesley’s Sermon, Scriptural Christianity

“But it did not satisfy him, barely to abstain from doing evil. his soul was athirst to do good. The language of his heart continually was, “`My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.’ My Lord went about doing good; and shall not I tread in his steps” As he had opportunity therefore, if he could do no good of a higher kind, he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, helped the fatherless or stranger, visited and assisted them that were sick or in prison. He gave all his goods to feed the poor. He rejoiced to labour or to suffer for them; and whereinsoever he might profit another, there especially to “deny himself.” He counted nothing too dear to part with for them, as well remembering the word of his Lord, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me” (Matt. 25:40).

Read

The Change Within Us

I was recently at dinner with a close friend, and she asked me about some upcoming travels that my husband and I have planned.  I told her I have always had extreme anxiety when it comes to travel. It usually takes me weeks to prepare to get on a plane because the fear of flying is something I struggle to overcome.  I cling to what is familiar, unchanging, consistent, and safe. Until a couple of years ago, I have not really known the word “home.” It struck me that I was living in fear, even if it’s for a good reason, it isn’t the fulfillment to which God is calling me. He has more for me, and although change scares us, He knows what is best for us and “has plans to prosper us and not to harm us” – Jeremiah 29:11.

Jesus wanted to change the scope of an entire way of believing…

Read

Life Because of God

The season of Lent is a time Christians have set aside to prepare for the great celebration of Easter. Lent is 40 days of preparation, not including Sundays, because every Sunday is a day to celebrate the gift of our Lord Jesus. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. The early church chose 40 days as the length of time because that is how long Jesus spent in the wilderness: fasting, praying, and being tempted. (Matthew 4:1-11) Lent is a gift to the people of faith, as it draws us close to our God and helps make us more aware of the gift of life that comes through Easter.

Throughout history, Christians have used many practices to help make the journey of Lent a more tangible and meaningful experience. Like Jesus in the wilderness, Christians often use fasting, additional times of prayer, and study to help better connect ourselves with the God who loves us so greatly that He would endure the cross, the grave, and the resurrection to bring new life filled with hope and joy to us. Lent is a gift. It is a time to change our ordinary practices so that we can connect with the extraordinary…

Read

Love Wins

I love the passage from 1 John chapter 4 that says, He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

I have found that too often people tend to read the passage with a sense of guilt. They have a tendency to read, “He who does not love does not know God,” as a statement that they must not be connected to God because they don’t fully love in all the ways that they should. It is a shame because it really is a complete misreading of the passage. Perhaps it would help if people read the first sentence in the following way, “If one loves, they know God; for God is love.”

Read